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Buoyed by pick up in demand, India's 12 major ports saw cargo traffic rise by 4.77 per cent to 679.35 million tonnes (MT) during the just concluded fiscal, as per ports body IPA.

These top ports under the Centre had handled 648.39 MT of cargo during 2016-17.

Increased demand from various sectors including coal, containers, fertilisers and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant) was the main reason behind the growth in traffic, as per Indian Ports Association (IPA) data.

Coking coal volumes handled by the 12 ports surged by 8.62 per cent to 50.59 million tonnes (MT) during the last fiscal while container volumes too rose 8.08 per cent.

Theo_Fidel wrote:almost the only thing that tranships thru columbo port is indian traffic, some bangladesh stuff as well.. ...almost no world traffic transships through columbo... vinzhinjam will live or die on yindia traffic... ..why would world traffic come here... singapore is closer, faster, more high tech on one side and Gulf is closer on the other and even asia now prefers the unpgraded panama route for EU.... ...singapore has subsidy and technology plan to load ship in 6 freaking hours by 2025... ..first rule of business, don't underestimate the adavantages your competition has and is receiving...

in any case lets keep some perspective on the total annual tranship revenue available. last I heard less than $400 Million for our region.... ..the main problem is the 5 day add in term of exports travel time... ..ideally goi should subsidize this to maintain our export competitiveness... ..every country around the world does this, but not yindia....

ofcourse it does not help that vallarpadam takes 2 days! to load a ship while singapore takes 12 hours, even Columbo is in the less than 24 regime.... ...afaik adani is bulk goods port type, he does not get a lot of container traffic and DP world mundra has captured almost all the container traffic int hat area...

The government has asked the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to develop so-called freight villages, a concept borrowed from European countries. The state-run IWAI will also provide inland waterways connectivity to these logistic hubs. In an interview with Mint, IWAI vice-chairman Pravir Pandey talks about freight villages, the World Bank-backed National Waterways 1 (NW1) project on river Ganga and the engineering marvels being created along waterways. Edited excerpts:

What are freight villages?

A freight village is an area where all activities relating to transport, logistics and the distribution of goods both for national and international transit are carried out by various operators. The concept has been widely used in European countries and (is) completely new to Asia. In fact, India will be the first country in Asia to come up with a freight village.

We are building the first freight village in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The village will provide connectivity through all three modes of transportation. Road, rail connectivity through Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, and water connectivity through the country’s longest waterway NW1. Another freight village is also coming up at Sahibganj in Jharkhand.

How will the freight villages change logistics?

IWAI is acquiring extra land of around 100 acres along the multimodal terminals of Varanasi and Sahibganj. We will just develop basic infrastructure. Private sector would be asked to establish their units where they can manufacture, pack and export or transport their products. It will reduce last-mile connectivity cost substantially. We already have several FMCG players, including Patanjali, many logistics companies and international companies who are keen to develop their units in freight villages, although I cannot name them right now. In fact, freight villages will change the logistic narrative of India.

Do you think inland waterways will get a chunk of transportation share?

Inland waterways are going to change the transportation dynamics in India and IWAI is fully preparing for it. We have hired a German firm to design vessels especially for Indian inland waterways and they have come up with 13 designs, which can run in low draft and have high carrying capacity. Our designed vessels can carry up to 2,000 tonnes of cargo, which is equivalent to 140 trucks or a full railway rake. These designs have been tested and cost around Rs 15crore (in total). Despite being an intellectual property right of the Indian government, from June onwards, it will be in public domain free of cost for ship owners to manufacture these and run in Indian waterways.

Several trials for cargo transportation like cement and automobile, have been conducted and companies are quite happy with the performance. They are keen on using waterways and are waiting for them to be operational soon. Following trials, we have got several other requests from various sectors who would like to transport their products through waterways.

Critics are sceptical about inland waterways with low water and dying rivers.

I would differ with them here. Inland waterways are going to introduce the concept of room for rivers in India and help them to rejuvenate. We are going to introduce regular dredging and have already changed its whole concept. Now, we are giving full stretches of 100km and above for dredging for 5 to 7 years where the company will be responsible for maintaining 3 metre depth and 45 metre width of river. It’s a bit more expensive but we have transferred our risks to the private sector. If the vessels cannot pass, then no payment to the contractor. The first such project worth Rs150 crore has been awarded to Adani Ports and SEZ.

Also, one needs to understand that inland waterways are not like roads that can be constructed overnight. It will take 15-20 years for inland waterways transportation to get matured. If you imagine what will be the rail and road situation after 20 years, you will realise how waterways will be helpful. Besides, we have a special focus of running inland waterways vessels on methanol, so that it is environment-friendly and has the support of NITI Aayog too.

Are there any engineering marvels being constructed in India’s inland waterways?

This whole Jal Vikas Marg project is worth Rs5,369 crore or $8 million. Half of it will be borne by World Bank and the rest by the government of India. Under the National Waterway 1, there are several engineering marvels that are coming up. But the best one is the navigation channel at Farakka which would be India’s Suez or Panama canal. It is a challenging engineering project which will be inland waterway’s engineering marvel.

It will be a trade off for sure. Valid environmental concerns should be addressed. At the same time jholawalas and pseudo intellectuals should not be holding country to ransom as not developing is not an option.

This should have been the biggest news of the week in India. For the first time since independence, a container is moving on inland vessel. PepsiCo is moving 16 containers from Kolkata to Varanasi on vessel MV RN Tagore, over river Ganga. Such a huge accomplishment!#SagarMala

Just found out that a classmate has been working on this project for the last two years. He said the dredging has just begun. But the design of low draft vessels has been completed and the blueprint is freely available for anybody to construct these ships. They are trying to build an entire ecosystem around this. If it sustains, it will be great.

I guess they need volumes to profit like any other business. Speed and capacity of the boats too. And maybe the length of the longest boats they can use. The ones I have seen in other rivers of the world can be really long. The Dutch use their canal network very efficiently and have huge boats sailing up and down from Rotterdam port. Maybe a mix of incentives for family businesses along the waterway, tourism, waterside restaurant + houses and fishing may work.

Inland shipping as part of the logistics chainIt is important that inland shipping entrepreneurs cooperate with other logistics parties (shippers, road hauliers, inland ports, terminal operators) in order to become an integrated part of the chain. This chain must be organised in a manner that ensures an optimum use of the strengths of inland shipping: large volumes of containers, no problems with congestion and low CO2 emissions.

Inland waterway shipping is very important for the processing of goods that enter the Netherlands. More than 35 percent of the goods that enter and leave the Netherlands are shipped by means of inland waterways shipping. In total, this equates to 1 million containers every year, totalling 9 million tonnes – i.e. 9000 kg per container. Except for the ordinary inland waterway goods, such as fodder, petrol, sand and gravel, nowadays more expensive goods are shipped. Examples are: electronic equipment, cars and even large trucks. Of all border-crossing transport between the Netherlands and its neighbours, almost two-thirds is via water. In larger countries, aviation will be dominant instead.

If someone has the time to search through historical news and information, this would be a very interesting topic here - there was once a thriving network of inland waterway commerce in India. That was destroyed by the British, who sought to destroy local commerce and redirect business towards the task of extracting and exporting raw material, for which the rail lines were built.

A history of what inland waterways were prominent, what were the major ports, etc, would be very revealing. It's already known that many famous pre-steam era ships were built in India. These include: * HMS Minden, aboard which Francis Scott Key wrote the US national anthem, during the war of 1812.* HMS Cornwallis, aboard which China signed away the 'unequal treaties' of 1842 to UK, heralding their 'century of humiliation' * HMS Asia, flagship of the Anglo-Russian side during the Battle of Navarino, the decisive sea battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans.A maritime and shipbuilding technological and engineernig tradition more advanced than European pre-steam era cannot have developed without a vigorous domestic maritime industry.

This isn't a request to bring about breastbeating about the destroyed tradition, but to shed light on the capabilities that existed.

“Dabur believes that this is a new step toward economic development as it would ease traffic pressure on roads and help cut logistic costs. This transportation system is a big boost for India’s Infrastructure, which would benefit several states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar,” Mr. Khan said.

The government on Thursday, said it had given its nod to develop a Rs 156 crore freight village in Varanasi adjoining the inland waterways terminal on river Ganga that will boost the logistics industry in the holy city.

"The Ministry of Shipping has approved the development of a Rs 156 crore freight village in Varanasi adjoining the Inland Waterways Terminal on River Ganga," the ministry said in a statement.

A freight village is a designated area where facilities for various modes of transportation, distribution of goods and other logistics are available in a synchronised manner on a large scale.

The Varanasi freight village will be developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), it said.

In a separate statement, the Shipping Ministry said Patna would be witness to a new landmark in India's inland water transport sector with "16 TEUs of container cargo belonging to food giants PepsiCo India and Emami Agrotech Ltd from Kolkata reaching the city's Gaighat IWT terminal on river Ganga next week."

CHABAHAR- In southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman, there is a port city called Chabahar which is the home for Iran's only oceanic port. Due to its strategic geographical positioning, Chabahar port holds a great significance for Iran both politically and economically.

After years of negotiation, Iran has awarded the development project of this port to India, and the South Asian country committed $500 million to build two new berths in this port.However, after the U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran in November, the future of many Iranian projects including Chabahar port were shadowed by the consequences of the sanctions.

But following several rounds of negotiations and discussions with New Delhi, the U.S. administration finally exempted the Chabahar project from the sanctions.

The new improvements around this important port intrigued the Tehran Times to pay a visit to Chabahar and conduct an interview with Behrouz Aghaie, the director general of Ports and Maritime Department of Sistan-Baluchestan Province (where Chabahar lies). What follows is the gist of the interview with the official.

An introduction to Chabahar port and development project

Chabahar has two main ports, Shahid Kalantari port and Shahid Beheshti port. Shahid Kalantari port’s development has been finished in 1983. However, the development project for Chabahar’s Shahid Beheshti port is planned to be implemented in five phases of which the first phase was started in 2007 and due to financial problems resulted from U.S.’s first round of sanctions on Iran the project was almost halted until 2016 in which the sanctions were lifted over Iran’s economy.

“In May 2016, Iran, India and Afghanistan signed a trilateral transit agreement in Tehran, a part of which is dedicated to Chabahar port’s development project.” Aghaie said.

India for long, has been negotiating with Iran for cooperation in development of this important port. Since through Chabahar port India can bypass Pakistan and transport goods to Afghanistan and Central Asia, while Afghanistan can get linked to India via sea.

At the time, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that New Delhi would be investing $500 million in the strategic port.

Then during the visit of the Iranian president to India in February 2018, the lease contract for Shahid Beheshti Port-Phase 1 was signed between Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) and India’s Ports Global Limited (IPGL).

Aghaie noted that after settlements, the Indian party has chosen an Iranian company to cooperate in the development project.

“They held a tender in which various Iranian candidates attended and in the end a company named Kaveh Group was chosen as the Iranian partner in this project”, he mentioned.

According to the official, technology transfer is an important part of the deal with the Indian side and in this regard most of the work force which is going to be employed for this project are going to be from Iran and the Indian side is also committed to transfer port related knowledge and technology into the country.

Aghaie further mentioned the progress of the Shahid Beheshti Port Phase 1 so far, saying, “During this phase over 203 hectares of land has been reclaimed, construction of three multi-purpose berths with a total length of over 1700 meters is completed, and over 15.5 million cubic meters of dredging has been executed which creates 16.5 meters of depth for berthing of vessels with even highest drafts.”

“We have also constructed a 1470-meter breakwater tail to make it completely safe for vessels to berth during monsoon season,” he added.

Asked about the equipment and machinery, the official explained that near €60 million worth of equipment, mobile cranes, towers and pneumatic ship unloaders, lifts and tractors have been purchased and they have been operated during the phase 1 of development project, most of which have been bought from renowned European companies including those from Germany and Finland and some are supplied by Iranian Machin Sazi Arak Company.

Role of private sector

Speaking about the role of the country’s private sector in this project, Aghaie stressed the importance of this sector’s presence in Chabahar development saying, “The Ports and Maritime Organization has so far invested over $1 billion in Chabahar development project and this has made the private sector to see the importance of this port for the country’s economy and made them to come forward.”

“They need to come forward and we always welcome them and support every company that is willing to cooperate with us in making this port what it is deserved to be”, he underlined.

According to Aghaie, since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2018) the private sector has invested over 450 billion rials (near $107 million) in the first phase of developing Shahid Beheshti port and he expressed hope that another $105 million will also be attracted by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2019).

Progress in port activities

Regarding the improvements of Chabahar’s ports in terms of commodity transit, exports, imports and transship, Aghaie explained, “Since the inauguration of the phase 1 of Shahid Beheshti Port, in container area we have witnessed a 70 percent rise in various fields of transit and transshipment, as for the oil terminal, the figure for the oil cargoes loading and unloading has jumped by 50 percent and finally as a whole we can say that on average the trade activities of Chabahar port have increased by 50 percent up to date.”

“In the past six months over 110,000 tons of goods have been transited through Chabahar’s ports”, he added.

Advantages and features

As Iran’s only ocean port with over 500 kilometers of marine border, Chabahar has a great deal to offer to the country’s economy, the investors, the neighboring countries and even the region.

This port is located outside the Persian Gulf region and Hormuz area and so doesn’t have the limitations of the country’s other ports in regard to the South East Asian trade. This port could be a transit gate from Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) countries to CIS counties and also Afghanistan. It is the most cost efficient and optimal route to link IORA and CIS and event to Europe and Africa.

The port has also one of the largest international passenger terminals in the region with a capacity of simultaneous reception of over 600 passengers.

Exemptions and potentials

Sistan-Baluchestan Province’s Ports and Maritime Department offers significant incentives for both investors and shipping companies who are willing to cooperate and operate in this port.

Land delegation as long-term lease agreements in form of B.O.O.T, B.L.T, B.O.T, and B.O.O. investment contracts, offering the opportunity for warehouse delegation in form of short- and long-term lease agreements, bringing equipment into Chabahar in form of partnership agreements subject to rules and regulations of free industrial-trade zones and especial economic zones and etc. are some of the great incentives and opportunities that Chabahar offers for those who are willing to invest or cooperate in this port.

There are also several discount items for shipping cargoes among which a 30-percent discount for all terminal handling charges (THC), and over 75 percent discount for the storage of import containers and 80 percent discount for storing export goods can be mentioned.

Rail projects related to Chabahar port

Connecting the ports to the railway network is among the prioritized plans that will contribute significantly to promotion of the country’s transit status.

For example, a railway is under construction to connect Chabahar Port to Zahedan, the center city of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, which will elevate the role of this strategic port in transit of goods.

According to Aghaie, the project to build this railway has a 30-percent progress and it will be complete by the next three years.

“Railway and rail development is one of the most important requirements of any improvement in Chabahar port’s commodity transit and traffic”, he emphasized.

It is worth mentioning that last October India launched a trade route to Afghanistan via Iran through shipping its first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar, bypassing longtime rival Pakistan. The country sent its second consignment of wheat to Afghanistan via Chabahar in last November and has said that it plans to send more shipments of wheat to Afghanistan via the Iranian port.

According to the official since the beginning of the phase 1, over 12,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) loading and unloading has been done in this port which is 100 percent more than the figure for all the loading-unloading done in the history of this port

IWAI and Ministry of Shipping have entered into a contract with a joint venture (JV) of Thompson Design Group (TDG) in US and Infrastructure Architecture Lab of MIT for identifying suitable locations for construction of 18 ferry terminals in six cities of Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Munger, Kolkata and Haldia on NW-1.

The consultants will also prepare Detailed Project Report and tender documents for the 18 terminals.

This JV has earlier worked on similar transport solutions in USA — Governors Island ( a 172-acre island in the heart of New York Harbour), Navy Pier, Chicago, and Buffalo Bayou, Texas.

The project includes development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, modern River Information System, Digital Global Positioning System, night navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking, construction of a new state of the art navigational lock at Farakka etc.

India has about 15,000 km of waterways which have been totally neglected since the independence of our country. Nations like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar, US, China and Argentina have made immense progress in the use of their waterways, which are used at par with other modes of surface transport. In India the share of cargo movement through waterways has increased to about 6 per cent from about 0.5 per cent few years back. Now compare this with China that has more than 17 per cent of cargo moving through waterways, while Vietnam has 45 per cent. This also translates into environmental benefits for these nations.

From 2 million tonnes in 2011 and 2012, cargo movement through waterways increased to 5.8 million tonnes in 2017 and by October 2018 about 6 million tonnes of cargo has been moved through the waterways. So, people are realising the importance and efficiency of waterways and the cost of logistics will force people to use waterways, if not today, in the near future.

“Nobody ever imagined that 1,233 tonnes of fly ash from NTPC could be loaded at Kahalgaon and moved to Guwahati in 21 days through the Indo-Bangladesh protocol route and the cost was 55 paise per tonne per km. This is one of the biggest consignments being transported on the waterways and no road or rail service can beat this costefficiency,” revealed Pravir Pandey, Vice Chairman, IWAI. But there is a challenge of return cargo. Major brands including Dabur, Parle-G, Emami and Hindustan Lever are looking at using waterways. If night navigation facilities are developed then further logistics time can be cut down on the waterways.

The NW-4 has become operational on Krishna River and more than 50,000 tonnes of cargo is moving on this route. 90 kms of this waterway from Muktyala to Vijayawada is being developed and in-between the new capital city of Amaravati is coming up.

Seeing the development on Ganga – NW-1, the government is planning to develop Brahmaputra (NW-2) for which the World Bank will fund Rs.3,000 crore. Moving further to connect with the South East Asian nations, the Kaladan multimodal transit project in Myanmar is being funded by the Ministry of External Affairs at a cost of `700 crore. The idea is to connect Kolkata and Haldia to Myanmar at Sittwe which further connects to Mizoram. The Sittwe port is now ready for operations and this project will not only make connecting the north east states easy but will also open India to the South East Asia. Special vessels that can move on lesser draft are being designed for moving containers, bulk, break-bulk and Ro-Ro on the waterways. About 15 such vessels will be procured. 10 Ro-Ro vessels are also being procured from Cochin shipyard and the first vessels will be delivered in February or March 2019.

Media and govt circles always mention India has 12 major port. but this 12 port dont include Mundra, krishnapatnam ports. why is this so??usage of term Major port is misleading and this should be stopped or include all "Major Port" in the list.

Arima wrote:Media and govt circles always mention India has 12 major port. but this 12 port dont include Mundra, krishnapatnam ports. why is this so??usage of term Major port is misleading and this should be stopped or include all "Major Port" in the list.

Arima Ji :

The 12 Major Ports are Government Owned Port Trusts.

Mundra and Krishnapatnam are PRIVATELY Owned and thus not included in the 12 Major Ports

Chabahar port is a key pillar of India’s Indo-Pacific strategy that connects Eurasia with the Indian Ocean Region

New Delhi: India and Iran will celebrate ‘Chabahar Day’ on February 26 at a mega event in Iran’s strategically located port, which is operated by India. The jointly organised event will showcase business potential of the port and the proposed economic zone that present a stark contrast to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, which China hopes to build as a military facility, said officials.

A senior Indian official will lead a high-powered delegation comprising business delegates, among others, at the day-long event which will also see participation of Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia. Iran will make a presentation on the prospects of the port to the visiting delegates.

Iran is pitching the event as an opportunity for businessmen, traders, freight companies, and national and international liners from various countries, said an Iranian official. One of the main goals is enabling entry of large international shipping liners into the port, he said. The port, India’s key link to Afghanistan and Eurasia, became operational for transit to Kabul following a tripartite agreement between India, Afghanistan and Iran. India Ports Global Limited, which is operating the Shahid Beheshti terminal, opened an office in the port in December last year.

On December 24, 2018, India, Iran and Afghanistan jointly inaugurated the office of the Indian special purpose vehicle – India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ) – in the port. The physical takeover of the terminal area, cargo handling equipment and office building was completed five days later.

Commercial operations began at IPGCFZ with the arrival of a Cyprus registered bulk carrier with 72,458 MT of corn cargo.

India is also developing a 500-km-long Chabahar-Zahedan railway link that will connect Afghanistan’s Zaranj-Delaram road and bring Iran and Afghanistan closer.

The Chabahar port is a key pillar of India’s Indo-Pacific strategy that also connects Eurasia with the Indian Ocean Region, according to experts

World’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line will move 16 containers on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) from Varanasi to Kolkata tomorrow. Maersk moves 12 million containers yearly across the globe. The firm is onboard India’s inland waterways for the first time.

Maersk moving containers on river Ganga follows similar movements already done by firms like PepsiCo, Emami Agrotech, IFFCO Fertilizers, Dabur India. With Maersk on board, the cargo from the hinterland will move directly to and from Bangladesh and rest of the world through Bay of Bengal.

On November 12, 2018, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi dedicated India’s first riverine multimodal terminal on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) at Varanasi to the nation. On the same day, he also received country’s first container cargo that travelled on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) from Kolkata to Varanasi. The twin events marked watershed moments in the development of Inland Water Transport (IWT) in India and also broke grounds for a spurt in business activities on National Waterway-1.

Container cargo transport comes with several inherent advantages. Even as it reduces the handling cost, allows easier modal shift, reduces pilferages and damage, it also enables cargo owners to reduce their carbon footprints.

The government is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under JMVP from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 5369 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT.

The Union Minister for Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari had flagged off a consignment of Maruti cars from Varanasi to Haldia in August, 2016. Since then pilot movements on National Waterways are currently being done on various stretches. More than 15 of them have already been successfully completed, including integrated movements through NW-1 (Ganga), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route and NW-2 (Brahmaputra).

Work on 36 new waterways likely to begin by March: IWAIThe government declared 106 national waterways in 2016 in addition to the existing five, taking India's total navigable inland waterways to 20,000 km.

IWAI has designed LADIS to facilitate the day to day operations of inland vessels plying on National Waterways and to avoid any hindrance in service and operation. It will enhance the credibility and efficiency of information sharing to achieve seamless operations on National Waterways, besides pre-empting problems that may occur during the movement of vessels.

KOCHI:Creating a landmark in the history of inland movement through National Waterways 3 & 9, the first barge named KPACT-1 with four (40 feet) import loaded containers was flagged off today from ICTT Cochin by Chairman(I/C), Cochin Port Trust in the presence of Chief Commissioner of Customs, officials of the Port, DP World, Customs, Shipping Line & Kottayam Port.

The barge will travel to Kottayam Port & ICD reducing carbon footprint and congestion on the roads. A regular service between ICTT Cochin & Kottayam Port & ICD will greatly benefit the importers & exporters by way of reduced haulage for the last & first mile connectivity. It is expected that the cost of movement by waterway will be 30 to 40% cheaper compared to road movement. This is in line with the objective of ‘Sagarmala’, the flagship programme of Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.

NEW DELHI: India is developing its maiden deep-sea port in Indonesia’s Sabang, not far from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, amid China's attempts to have a greater say in the region through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The port will be key to India's Indo-Pacific strategy.

The port will give India better access to the South East Asian markets and provide a strategic hedge at a time China is increasing its presence in the Strait of Malacca (as also the larger Indian Ocean).

Despite the Look East Policy, tracing back to the days of then PM Narasimha Rao, India's relationship with ASEAN nations have largely been trade-oriented. But the rise of China in the waters of Indo-Pacific (and its economic clout) calls for a new approach to the region.

Hence, the reason the Narendra Modi government has upgraded its policy to Act East.

But countering China in the region is easier said than done. For one, China is the largest trade partner to ASEAN, increasing from $192 billion in 2008 to $515 billion by 2018. Then there is the BRI, through which China has spent about $400 billion. Also, China's focus on Indo-Pacific region is aimed at displacing the US from the region — American military bases in Guam, Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean) as well as in Darwin (Australia), and its economic ties with the region ensure its primacy. But that mission threatens India as well, considering the nature of the relationship between Beijing and New Delhi.

Hence, strategic partnerships with Indo-Pacific nations help.

During PM Modi's visit to Indonesia last year, the two nations had agreed on a "Shared vision of maritime co-operation in the Indo-Pacific". Connectivity with Sabang Port was identified as a key priority area within that vision.

Following this, an Indian naval ship, INS Sumitra, visited Sabang for the first time last July. Now an Indian Coast Guard ship, Vijit, has visited the port (from March 17-20).

India is also strengthening its forces in the Andamans. The Indian Navy recently commissioned its third (and India's fourth) air base in the islands.

World’s largest container shipping company Maersk Line will move 16 containers on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) from Varanasi to Kolkata tomorrow. Maersk moves 12 million containers yearly across the globe. The firm is onboard India’s inland waterways for the first time.

Maersk moving containers on river Ganga follows similar movements already done by firms like PepsiCo, Emami Agrotech, IFFCO Fertilizers, Dabur India. With Maersk on board, the cargo from the hinterland will move directly to and from Bangladesh and rest of the world through Bay of Bengal.

On November 12, 2018, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi dedicated India’s first riverine multimodal terminal on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) at Varanasi to the nation. On the same day, he also received country’s first container cargo that travelled on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) from Kolkata to Varanasi. The twin events marked watershed moments in the development of Inland Water Transport (IWT) in India and also broke grounds for a spurt in business activities on National Waterway-1.

Container cargo transport comes with several inherent advantages. Even as it reduces the handling cost, allows easier modal shift, reduces pilferages and damage, it also enables cargo owners to reduce their carbon footprints.

The government is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under JMVP from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 5369 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT.

The Union Minister for Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari had flagged off a consignment of Maruti cars from Varanasi to Haldia in August, 2016. Since then pilot movements on National Waterways are currently being done on various stretches. More than 15 of them have already been successfully completed, including integrated movements through NW-1 (Ganga), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route and NW-2 (Brahmaputra).

The Ralhupur(Ramnagar) Varanasi terminal of the IWAI on R. Ganga is set to be connected to DFCC at New Jeonathpur station outside Mughalsarai. Land acquisition for the rail link is progressing well and the survey is over. The rail link is 7km long. This will facilitate movement of containers from the port to the DFC and to IR. Article is in Hindi. Tamil, Hindi, Bengali all should be understandable and easily readable for most Indians, otherwise all can do khemta dancing Article states that due to the impending Lok Sabha elections and implementing of the Code of conduct there is a "brake" in many of the activities of surveying and LA. A team from the World Bank had come and surveyed the construction activities and after that the project had picked up even more. This intermodal terminal will have all means of transportation under one roof. Okay that is a reasonable precis.

Progress of Namami Ganga at Sahibganj and progress of IWAI multimodal terminal at Sakrigalli outside Sahibganj(Jharkhand) on R. Ganga. There will also be a LNG bunkering terminal at Ghazeepore( between Varanasi and Patna) in UP. This will allow barges to top up on LNG that will run the turbines for the barges. A road cum rail bridge is being constructed at Ghazipur that will supplement the Abdul Hamid PVC ( a native of Ghazipur) bridge that is structurally not strong. Trucks are not allowed on the bridge but this is openly flaunted by truck operators. Doubling and electrification has taken place between Varanasi-Aunrihar-Ghazipur etc on North bank and Bhagalpur-Jamalpur-Kiul on South bank.

A bridge across Ganga at Sahibganj is a long standing demand and this is planned linking Jharkhand(Santhal Pargana) to Katihar, Forbesganj, Jogbani, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and the Northeast allowing coal from Jharkand mines to reach these areas. As the video says, this is a demand since the days of the gora aadmi or paraangis. For non-Tamilians paraangi is same as firangi.

This Jamalpur is where was located the first railway workshop in India of the East Indian Railway. The Delhi-Kolkata line passed through Sahibganj-Jamalpur etc. the eponymous Sahibganj loop. Later the mainline was constructed via Patna and then the Grand Chord in 1906 with a saving of 80km through the Chota Nagpur hills. As far as Sahibganj went, water from the Ganga was abundant for steam for the Jamalpur workshop and for the locos. Moreover Monghyr or Munger 20km from Jamalpur was traditionally the home of blacksmiths who made locks, swords and tamanchas, that is pistols, that is how you say it in UP and Bihar, and one of the Mir's the Jafar or the Kasim had his armoury at Munger and so the abundance of water and skilled metal workers made Jamalpur an ideal site for a premier railway workshop. Of course in later years this area has furnished all the rip-offs of cheap hand guns and AK's that finds their way to the Naxalites of Bihar. For example Begusarai distt is heavily Commie. The Grand Chord and the mainline was where the freight went and so Sahibganj sank into obscurity and now rises again with the Inland terminal on NW-1.

Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) Wednesday claimed that it has become the first Indian port operator to handle cargo movement of 200 million tonnes (MT) in 2018-19. APSEZ, part of Gautam Adani-led Adani Group had recorded 100 MT cargo in 2013-14.

On March 21, leading private port operator APSEZ, recorded cargo movement of more than 200 MT, APSEZ said in a statement."Our projections were to reach this milestone by 2020 but we could achieve it ahead of schedule courtesy the tech-driven operational efficiency and enhanced asset utilisation. Robust capacity addition at our leading ports such as Dhamra and Mundra as well as deepening presence closer the hinterland with new facilities such as Ennore and Kattupalli played a critical role in this journey," said Karan Adani, Chief Executive Office, APSEZ.

He added that focus on adding value as an integrated logistics player and coastal shipping of coal further bolstered the process. The company said it developed Mundra Port first but later on there were additions to the portfolio. Non-major ports were developed at Hazira, Dhamra, Dahej and the newest one at Kattupalli.

Terminals were developed within major ports of the country at Ennore, Kandla, Goa and Vizag from 2005 to 2018, it said adding Mundra Port remains the crown jewel, but the feat of handling 200 MT cargo has not been achieved by one port alone.

The company said, proximity and rail/road connectivity to the vast and rich north-western hinterland, modern port infrastructure and equipment, zero waiting time for ships, faster turn-around time and competitive rates contributed to this phenomenal growth of Adani Ports.

"This achievement also reinstates the massive contribution of the ports sectors to India's economic transformation," said Karan Adani adding that collectively the company has generated over 100,000 jobs, educated over 25,000 students and touched over 200,000 lives.

Going forward, APSEZ aims to double its cargo handling to 400 MT by 2025, the company said.

"The focus for the immediate future is to reduce the turnaround time, drive up volumes without adding resources and increase in-transit visibility utilisation by eliminating unproductive trips among other benefits. The sweetest part of the deal is for our customers who get real-time status of operations from the comfort of their locations," added Adani.

APSEZ, a part of globally-diversified Adani Group, is the largest port developer and operator in India. APSEZ's 10 ports and terminals including Mundra, Dahej, Kandla and Hazira in Gujarat, Dhamra in Odisha, Mormugao in Goa, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Kattupalli and Ennore in Chennai - represent 24 per cent of the country's total port capacity.

The company, which was set up two decades ago, doubled its cargo handling last week from 100 mt reached in 2013-14.

MUMBAI: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) [b]has set a target of doubling cargo handling to 400 million tonne (mt) by 2025 after it recorded 200 mt recently, becoming the first Indian port to reach this milestone.

The company, which was set up two decades ago, doubled its cargo handling last week from 100 mt reached in 2013-14.

“Currently, about 95% of India’s trading volume is done through maritime transport and the total national traffic stands at about 1,200 mt. This gives us about 17% market share,” Karan Adani, CEO, APSEZ told ET in an email. “We anticipate that we will be able to increase our market share by about 1% annually and have set ourselves a goal to double our cargo handled to 400 mt by 2025.”

While a significant amount of this cargo came from the company’s first port at Mundra, its other non-major ports at Hazira, Dhamra, Dahej and Kattupalli also contributed.

“We will continue to add capacity at the appropriate ports as well as target new ports in other states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal,” said Adani. “The government’s ambitious Sagarmala and inland waterways initiatives will further help us augment our cargo growth. Hence, we anticipate that a combination of India’s growth and our network of ports will give us a strategic advantage hard for anyone to replicate.”

The company aims to become market leader in end-to-end logistics with technology driven innovations.

“The focus for the immediate future is to reduce the turnaround time, drive up volumes without adding resources and increase in-transit visibility utilisation by eliminating unproductive trips among other benefits. The sweetest part of the deal is for our customers who get real-time status of operations from the comfort of their locations,” said Adani. He said that India is important for all three major global shipping alliances and could potentially be a linking point for Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe, offering new opportunities.

Any new about the status of the naval OPVs being built at Reliance Defence Pipavav? The first two ships were to be delivered by December 2018. Instead the navy ended up encashing the bank guarantee of the shipyard. The ships had been launched and photos had emerged of weapons fitment on the board the vessels as well. Generally the weapons fitment is one of the last things to be carried out. The photos of weapons fitment were probably from around Jan 2018 timeframe.The ships should have been ready by now and the work on the balance 3 ships should have been well under way. Seems like along with ABG and Bharati shipyards, one more private sector shipyard in India is going to go belly up. This will not be good news for the Indian shipbuilding sector. L&T is surviving,, but don't know about the orders post the 7 OPVs that they are building. The first 2, I guess have been recently delivered.

Maybe motabhai will come to the rescue. Can the navy shift the partially built ships to other shipyards for completion?

^^^ Speaking of not good news for the Indian shipbuilding sector, Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd (AAGL), though state government owned, can also be thrown into the pot as IIRC they have only managed to deliver 1 of the 6 Makar Class Catamaran hulled survey vessels ordered owing to financial constraints. Quite an elephants grave yard in this sector.